The dark red BMW drove through the streets of Shanghai at night.
Zhu Zhe, sitting in the passenger seat, said, "Since Chen Zufa planned every step so carefully, I'm sure that after getting married and running off with the money, he wouldn't stay anywhere he'd spent time recently. So where would he go? Then I remembered that he was extremely conservative and terribly unable to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings, especially at a time when everyone was on edge. Could he have gone back to somewhere he used to live, looking for a little sense of security?"
Ye Zhenzhen, who was driving, replied, "Wouldn't he be afraid that his old hometown acquaintances might remember him?"
"No. Back then, we were poor and lived in terrible places. He was especially concerned with appearances, so he never told acquaintances his address, much less invited anyone over. I was only foolish enough to have lived with him back then, which is why I know those places. Besides, I wasn't one of the people he scammed. He probably thinks I wouldn't meddle, so he let his guard down.
He wants people to think he may no longer be in Shanghai, while hiding right under their noses on the principle that the most dangerous place is the safest. He's the kind of person who gets bitter and jealous easily. Maybe he's lying there comfortably, smug as can be."
Zhu Zhe sighed. "Who doesn't care about appearances? I do too. Of course I don't want people to know that I once lived with someone like that in a place like that, only to be kicked aside and despised by that very person in the end. But I can't just stand by and watch someone die. As long as there's even the slightest possibility, we have to try."